Why do Australians sound more British than Americans?

[Jason76]

I mean, they were both British colonies! I don't get it. Anyway, the US does have some unique accents - like the Appalachian one (where I'm from), that seem British influenced (The Appalachian one seems Scottish influenced to be more precise.).

Anyway, I think the NYC and New England accents are also more British influenced, but still a far cry from an Australian, New Zealand, or South African one.

 

[fantanoice]

America was colonised centuries before Australia. The American accent branched and developed from the way the British spoke from that time. The British accent also went along it's own tangent - the 'posh' sounding accent is actually a pretty recent thing, developing within the last century iirc.

Australia's colonisation was more recent and hasn't had the opportunity to diverge as much.

 

[Page]

The short answer is that the American accent is strongly influenced by the Irish accent with it rolling rrr’s and habit of saying “sure”. Millions of Irish came to America during the potato famine and afterwards.

Australian accent is much influenced by the cockney London accent. Aussies call each other ‘mate’ in the same way as East Enders do.

By contrast, the USA was a mix of Scots/Irish and other UK regional accents like the one in Norfolk and of other nationalities learning English in America, especially people from Getmsny, many of whom anglicised their names. So today we have most American accents as rhotic (pronouncing the R) but not saying British English ‘new’ with a small ‘y’ sound, to British wars they say ‘noo’ as they do still regionally in Norfolk.

 

[Jason76]

The British accent also went along it's own tangent - the 'posh' sounding accent is actually a pretty recent thing, developing within the last century iirc.

Yeah, I heard that. So actually in the past British sounded like Americans. Is that right?

The short answer is that the American accent is strongly influenced by the Irish accent with it rolling rrr’s and habit of saying “sure”. Millions of Irish came to America during the potato famine and afterwards.

Australian accent is much influenced by the cockney London accent. Aussies call each other ‘mate’ in the same way as East Enders do.

By contrast, the USA was a mix of Scots/Irish and other UK regional accents like the one in Norfolk and of other nationalities learning English in America, especially people from Getmsny, many of whom anglicised their names. So today we have most American accents as rhotic (pronouncing the R) but not saying British English ‘new’ with a small ‘y’ sound, to British wars they say ‘noo’ as they do still regionally in Norfolk.

So who is right here - you are the other poster?

 

[Kaynil]

I'd say both are correct.

Empire is describing how the differences between those England dialect pushed the language evolution in different directions with the passage of time.

America has had more time to form through the generations a unique accent, but even them have differences through their states. Latin America and Spain have the same kind of diverted evolution of their language.

Australia was conquered a couple of hundred years later than America. By this time America had already gone through some generations to melt it into something unique while the accent of the people that migrated to Australia would had been closer to the ones we know today on England and the language evolution is now taking a different turn than America did.

 

[Page]

So who is right here - you are the other poster?

It's an fact

 

[Jason76]

Note, I was saying British, but what I really mean is English. The Scottish, Irish (now an independent nation) and Welsh would have different accents.

 

[Page]

Note, I was saying British, but what I really mean is English. The Scottish, Irish (now an independent nation) and Welsh would have different accents.

Each location around England has different style of British talks. Derbyshire they speak like duck, then Nottingham they speak little different then down to south they speak Londoner

 

[Jason76]

Note, I was saying British, but what I really mean is English. The Scottish, Irish (now an independent nation) and Welsh would have different accents.

Each location around England has different style of British talks. Derbyshire they speak like duck, then Nottingham they speak little different then down to south they speak Londoner

I think that's true in other nations too like South Korea. For instance, a woman from Seoul was making fun of the accent in this southern coastal town I was at. But I don't know enough Korean to spot that myself.

 

[Page]

I think that's true in other nations too like South Korea. For instance, a woman from Seoul was making fun of the accent in this southern coastal town I was at. But I don't know enough Korean to spot that myself.

Yes even in america each state speaks little different.

Regards Australia where ever you go, each state or the full country they all speak the same

 

[Ajay]

Sometimes you can notice the difference in accents by crossing over county lines rather than state lines.

 

[Cosmic]

Do they? Maybe they both just sound different from an American accent...

 

[Jason76]

Yes even in america each state speaks little different.

Not each state, but it's divided into Midwestern, General (boring, standard), Boston, NYC/Pennsylvania, African American, Deep South, Southern Appalachian/Texas (for some reason it's the same), Minnesota (in a class of it's own).

 

[Ajay]

Yes even in america each state speaks little different.

Not each state, but it's divided into Midwestern, General (boring, standard), Boston, NYC/Pennsylvania, African American, Deep South (as in plantations), Southern Appalachian/Texas (for some reason it's the same), Minnesota (in a class of it's own).

I wouldn’t combine NYC

Each borough has a different accent.

 

[Jason76]

Yes even in america each state speaks little different.

Not each state, but it's divided into Midwestern, General (boring, standard), Boston, NYC/Pennsylvania, African American, Deep South (as in plantations), Southern Appalachian/Texas (for some reason it's the same), Minnesota (in a class of it's own).

I wouldn’t combine NYC

Each borough has a different accent.

I don't really know. From movies, it all seems the same and the same as neighboring states, not New England, though.